Adventure may hurt you, but monotony will kill you.

February 24, 2015

The Other Side of Active.

Let me tell you upfront: this is a sponsored post. They help “fuel” the blog, and allow me to continue to share my writing with others, so I’m happy to do them from time to time. In this sponsored post, I was asked to share a little bit about the active lifestyle I lead and the activities that I do. Now let’s face it, that’s what I write about every other day of the year on this blog; me telling you that I enjoy trail running would be old news. So I thought I’d shake the post up a bit.

Let’s talk about the “other” side of active. The behind the scenes type of things you don’t see or think about when you meet a bubbly personal trainer at the gym, or check out an avid runner and athlete on social media. So here 5 of my “dirty” (sweaty?) little fitness secrets:

1) I live in gym clothes. If I did the math, I’d say the frequency in which I wear something “dri-fit” averages out to 355 out of 365 days per year. I dread attending events or going out to more-than-casual dinners with friends or family, because I rotate through the same 3 dressy outfits that comprise the only non athletic clothes I own. Most of which are designed for the summer. During the winter months, I truly contemplate how I can work yoga pants into “dressy” attire, or if a cotton fitted race shirt counts as “casual” wear. Further, I laugh daily at the people on social media who scold those who wear leggings in public. I can’t remember the last time I went to the grocery store in something other than running tights.

So consider this fair warning: if you invite me to your wedding, I might show up wearing a running skirt.

The running shorts drawer. Pants and capris are in another drawer.

2) I eat convenience foods far more often than I should. Specifically, protein and snack bars. You see, exercise makes me hungry. Scratch that, hungry is an understatement. Exercise makes me RAVENOUS. Some days, I’ll be at the gym from 12:00 pm until 9:00 pm, both working out and working, without a break to sit down and eat a proper meal. I constantly preach fresh, balanced eating, but sometimes struggle to do it myself. Reaching for a quick bite from a protein or fruit & nut bar helps keep my blood sugar up and prevents me from crashing. Food is fuel, and sometimes it doesn’t matter to me how I get the calories, it just matters that I get them.

3) Periods. A taboo topic that you don’t hear a lot of people talk about. But the reality is, like it or not, females of child bearing age menstruate once a month (If we’re being honest, I’m in the “not liking it” category, but I digress.) There are some miserable, crampy days when I do NOT want to get out of bed and my pajamas, never mind hit the gym for a hard training session. But having chosen fitness as my career, I have no choice but to power through on those days and put on a happy, motivating face for my gym members and clients. Stayfree® products help keep me focused on my clients squat form and not worried about the embarrassment of possible accidents or leaks.

4) I have my weaknesses too. For example, flexibility. While I instruct every single client of mine to warm up with dynamic stretching and cool down with static stretching, I hardly ever remember to do it myself. Yoga is a foreign concept to me, though one I’m striving to improve upon. For a number of health and fitness reasons, but also because I totally want to be able to do handstands and post crazy pictures of it like everyone else on social media. I’m thankful for the 30 day free Gaiam TV subscription I’ve been using courtesy of Stayfree to help teach me some yoga basics. Watch out Instagram.

Ahhh the couch cushion wall headstand. I’m pretty sure every 8 year old on the face of the earth has better form than me, but I’ve got to start somewhere.

5) I drink beer and eat junk food. Not everyday, and not frequently, but I am only human, and sometimes I like to have a treat. This seems to often shock members of gyms I’ve worked at who only know me as “fitness Heather”, and look at me with wide eyes when I tell them I enjoyed some microbrews and nachos over the weekend. I really, really enjoy a good beer (and for that matter, a crappy beer after a hard race.)

Comments

I love this post 🙂 I’m new to your blog, but I’m glad I found you! I run for ice cream (hence my name). But I’m with you, I wear more athletic clothes than anything else. I cringe when I have to put on ‘real’ clothes.

I can totally relate to this, especially living in workout clothes (or jeans and t-shirts)! I think I forgot what nice clothes are and how to wear them, haha! I’m not used to wearing dresses so I think they all look funny on me 😉

LOVE IT! My confession is that despite writing about it over and over again, I run but have not fallen completely in love with running. I don’t know what this love hate thing is that I have going on with it but there it is… I guess I just want to be one of the cool kids! (Meanwhile, I am looking forward to the weather breaking so I can get outside and run…)

Life is all about balance. You don’t have to be active 24/7, or eat only healthy foods. Sneaking in treats and enjoying down time is perfectly find when you’ve balanced it with a healthy and active lifestyle.

love this. i work from home now so i legitimately wear running tights every.single.day. it is amazing. and if i’ve just gone to a pure barre class and haven’t run, than i may or may not have showered. sorry not sorry. 🙂

So agree with all of these, especially the bit about periods. I don’t have a ton because I’m on the Mirena, but when they were more normal, it was really really hard and gross, especially when I was teaching 5-6 days a week. Being a girl sucks sometimes!

I hear you on the clothes and some days just needing to shove a bar in your face. I feel like I’m always “running” somewhere even when I’m not running, so I’m often in casual clothes and unshowered way too frequently. Yeah, I bet that makes you want to hang out with me…

I can definitely relate to the clothing issue. While I do enjoy dressing up and having other cute clothing, I’ve noticed once I started making fitness a part of my life I gravitated towards lots (and LOTS) of workout clothing. I love all your confessions though-it really brings things to light for us non-athletic people 🙂

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Meet Heather

I'm Heather, mom of two, ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist, and an overzealous athlete who cannot focus on a single discipline, so I train for all of them at the same time. When in doubt, I run...and then write about it. Read More…

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